Deeplinks Blog posts about PATRIOT Act

This week marks the seventh annual Sunshine Week, a national initiative to promote dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. As our little way to celebrate, EFF has recently posted nearly nine thousand pages of government documents to our site. For the majority of these documents, many of which were previously classified, this is the first time these files have been added to the public domain. The documents were all obtained in conjunction with EFF’s FOIA Litigation for Accountable Government (FLAG) Project, which aims to expose the government's expanding use of new technologies and to protect civil liberties by increasing government transparency.

UPDATE (3/24/11) -- Unfortunately, it looks like there will not be live-streaming video for this event. However, it will be recorded and broadcast at a later date. We'll let you know the details so you can watch it later.

On the evening on March 24, 2011, EFF staff activists will discuss the state of government surveillance and privacy in the United States at "Government Surveillance in a Digital World," an event hosted by San Francisco Intersection for the Arts, with a live video stream by BAMM.tv.

Despite the valiant efforts of liberty-defending congresspersons from both political parties, the House of Representatives has just this evening passed an extension of the three USA PATRIOT Act surveillance powers that were set to "sunset" at the end of February, by a vote of 275 to 144. Now, the Senate is our last hope to stop PATRIOT renewal and obtain meaningful PATRIOT reform. The Senate is expected to vote on a PATRIOT renewal bill this week, so contact your Senators today and urge them to vote NO on the PATRIOT Act!

Of the 144 votes against the House bill, 26 came from Republicans, who argued that the law's broad surveillance powers constitute a big government intrusion into the lives of private citizens. For example, California Republican Dana Rohrabacher said:

UPDATE (2/9/11): In another move to fast-track PATRIOT Act renewal before three of its most controversial provisions expire at the end of the month, the House is expected to call another vote on a PATRIOT reauthorization bill any day now. Unlike the two-thirds majority that would have been needed to pass the measure on Tuesday, the next vote will only require a majority to pass. Your voice is needed now more than ever.Act now - contact your Representatives and tell them not to rubber-stamp the PATRIOT Act extension!

Tell your Congressperson to vote NO on the USA PATRIOT Act in tomorrow's vote! The PATRIOT reauthorization bill being fast-tracked to the House floor contains NO reforms to the law, and will be voted upon with NO debate and NO opportunity for amendments to add oversight and accountability. Help stop this sneak attack on your civil liberties: there are only hours left to visit our Action Center and tell your Representative to vote "NO" on H.R. 514, the PATRIOT extension bill.